Not Really Changed
by Fossie
Summary: He saw her on TV. A not very interesting educational show. Her opening line: "Hi, I'm Misty Wallflower, and I love Cerulean City!"


He saw her on TV. A not very interesting educational show. Her opening line:

"Hi, I'm Misty Wallflower, and I love Cerulean City!"

There were a half dozen appearances of her along the one-hour show. Gary tried to detect a slight sarcasm in those cheery words but couldn't really find any of it. Okay, it was not like Wallflower was a scary monster or something like that - she was cool. Yeah. Cool. And apparently an awesome actress. Because no one was that happy. Could he say "Hi, I'm Gary Oak, and I love Pallet Town!" without laughing? Then he tried. Then he failed. Well, _to be fair_, it was easier for her, right? Right. Because Cerulean was more interesting than Pallet. Main attraction in his hometown? Ash's smelly sockets. (A nice mental image, but not a very believable one: Mrs. Ketchum cleaned her son's room very regularly.)

With a handful of historical facts of Cerulean in mind, he went to sleep.

* * *

><p>She defeated a trainer that day, a girl who kept using fire pokémons. Yeah. In some point Misty finally asked what she was doing.<p>

"Trying to show it's possible."

Misty supposed it should sound wise but, well, she wasn't really impressed. Stubborn trainers aren't really interesting after a few mont- okay, the truth: stubborn trainers aren't really interesting after you traveled with one of them.

So the letter came. A letter. How dramatic.

She read. And kinda laughed. She was writing a response as soon as she could find a pen. An excerpt:

_Well, I think they'll try to reach you. They asked me if I thought Ash would agree to take part in a Pallet edition and I said it would be probably be a little hard for him, because he's soooo busy. Then they talked about you. Yeah, after talking about Ash! Broken-hearted?_ [a little bitter here, she admitted. But he was the one who started.]

A pathetic fact: she was smiling all the way along writing it. It was so fun. She felt kinda lonely, which was stupid because, well, it was her hometown and she knew everybody and everybody knew her, but... But. BUT. The key word. Okay, skipping the but section: she liked the letter. In fact, she wanted more letters. From Gary. She blushed at the thought. She blushed at the blush.

* * *

><p>They really tried to reach him. "They", this mysterious entity! Gary almost giggled when he understood what that call was about.<p>

Yeah, he was having fun too.

* * *

><p>"Hi, my name is Gary Oak and I love Pallet Town!"<p>

(...)

"Oh, my favorite thing? Well, there are very interesting bushes... yeah, I know what you're thinking: oh, Gary, that doesn't sound interesting! But I'm telling you: incredible, mysterious bushes!"

(...)

"A memory. Well, that's hard to choose. But there is one... sorry, I'm getting a little emotional... well... it's about Ash Ketchum. Yeah, that Ash Ketchum. So..."

* * *

><p><em>… yeah, they cut. Not really subtle. I mean, they should have cut the whole memory thing, right? It doesn't make sense. Anyway, it was an incredible story about Ash and a bladder problem. He was three, but I didn't tell this part. And... nah, it doesn't sound so funny now. It's a verbal story, I think.<em>

And she said:

_… well, you can be verbal with me, you know._

What a stupid thing to write. And there she was, staring at the screen. He appeared.

"Hi."

"Hi."

And this was the moment that she remembered that her and Gary weren't friends. Before that letter exchange, they never even had a real conversation! They just... knew each other. Because of Ash. And Ash wasn't there. So. Awkward.

"Are you in the gym?"

"Uh, no. This is my home. Erm. Welcome. Haha. Hey, how are you?"

"Oh, fine. Feeling a lot verbal."

"Hah. Me too. Totally."

She smiled. He smiled.

"There is a trainer that is trying to beat me for, uh, two months."

"Really? That bad?"

"Well, she - hey, it's super hard to defeat me! But well... she is a fire trainer. I think. I mean, the only pokémons she used against me were fire types. And they weren't even that strong, you know? They are getting better, actually."

"Maybe it is a challenge. A very stupid one."

"Do you really think that? Everyone here in Cerulean knows her at this point, and they think it's a great thing, what she's doing..."

"..._ What_ is she doing? What's the point?"

"Prove that's possible."

"Well, of course that's possible. She's not, like, a pioneer."

"YEAH! I mean - yeah. I told her that - well, in a... sweeter tone. And she said that I don't get it."

"Oh, typical," he rolled his eyes. "Those innocent trainers, full of bright dreams."

"Gary," she was laughing.

"What can I say? Time runs! I'm a changed man," he said in this overdramatic tone.

"A boy. And not very much changed."


End file.
